Auditions Held and Roles Cast for Youth Show
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Actors' Theatre held auditions for actors and actresses interested in a role in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the 2021 Youth Show with anticipated show dates in July and August. The cast list was announced on Tuesday, June 15. Although no one from Blaine County will star in the show, Jonah Nixdorf, the step-son of former Zurich resident Kimberly (Chilton) Squires will play the lead character, Charlie.
Several people in the age range of 11-20 years gathered at the former Creative Leisure Building between 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. for a chance to depict the world of eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka.
In this adaptation of Roald Dahl's story originally published in 1964, characters will reenact Charlie Bucket's experiences. Each day on his way to school, Charlie, who lives on the outskirts of town with his poverty-stricken family, walks past the best and biggest chocolate factory in the world, run by the secretive Willy Wonka.
When Charlie's father loses his job, things go from bad to worse. Grandpa Joe tells Charlie that in the past, competitors stole Wonka's candy-making secrets, and the factory shut down. Later, the factory resumed production, but no one was ever seen entering or leaving. One day, Wonka announces that he has hidden golden tickets in five Wonka chocolate bars, with the prize of a tour of the factory and a lifetime supply of Wonka products for each child who finds a ticket.
As Wonka-mania encircles the globe, Charlie dreams of finding one of five golden tickets which will admit him to the reclusive Willy Wonka's magical factory. One-by-one, four of the tickets are found. When Charlie stumbles upon money sticking out of a snowbank, he buys himself two Wonka chocolate bars; the second contains the last golden ticket.
On the day of the scheduled tour, the five lucky children are greeted outside the factory by the visionary Willy Wonka. Inside the magical chocolate factory, the workers are revealed to be the tiny cacao-loving Oompa-Loompas, rescued from Loompaland by Wonka. As the tour progresses, four of the children, too self-centered to follow the rules, suffer bizarre-and often painful-consequences. The Oompa-Loompas regularly break into moralizing songs to comment on the children's misbehavior. At last, Wonka tells Charlie that, because of his respectful behavior, he will be the new owner of the chocolate factory.
The show, which was cast in 2020 and meant for production last year, was postponed due to pandemic concerns. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will run this July 29-31 and August 5-7.
